Monday, February 25, 2013

March is just a couple days away and that can only mean it is time to break out the rainbow crafts! Can you tell I am excited! This one is pretty much a toddler dream! So fun to see the excitement on little faces as they paint a rainbow.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Shaving cream is one of my favorite art materials. I don't know what it is about that stuff, but as soon as I pull it out my kids get more excited than if I offered a trip to the local sugary! And we get a much better outcome with the shaving cream.

If it was hot outside I would just unleash the kiddos to the yard with a couple cans of this fun, but since we are adjusting to a new kind of winter or shall I just say adjusting to a winter (poor socal babies) we opted to be indoors making shaving cream prints.

I admit, I get a little too involved in this one and Emma has asked me to step away...more than once. Try it, you'll see. I guess shaving cream is fun for all!

For detailed instructions on this awesome craft, head over to my full tutorial at Kiwi Crate.

Isn't that gorgeous! But, wait.....

Yes, it got better. So pretty and makes great homemade cards, bookmarks and even wrapping paper. This craft never gets old. It's one of those you just know you'll pull back out for the grand-kids!

We have painted in all sorts of different ways with many different kinds of paint brushes, but on this day using balloons to paint with was a first for us!

Pretty simple to set up this fun afternoon of creative colorful exploration. Small balloons work best to fit into small little hands.

I knew this one would be a big hit with Grayson. He is very unconventional and was excited with the thought of using something other then a paint brush to paint with. I like the way that little mind works! Can you see that look of deep creative thought in him?

Using balloons to paint with is not only fun, creative, exciting and silly, but also makes for the most beautiful painting. I am thinking of having the kids do a big canvas painting with this technique. It would look beautiful in our art room!

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Happy Valentine's Day! Our last heart craft of the season is this sweet mosaic heart. All you need are some pretty beads, buttons or gems and air dry clay. This is super simple and perfect to have ready for the kids to make after school on this lovely Valentine's Day.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

If you don't think you have the time for homemade Valentine's or your
child is just set on buying some of these packaged ever so pretty store
bought Valentine's, it's not a loss cause! You can still add homemade
touches with a few art materials you probably already have.

I had some of these on hand and this was a really fun afternoon craft for the kids to do. We used glitter glue and markers to add some personal touches to these little cards. Check out our full details over at Kiwi Crate!

Monday, February 11, 2013

Have I told you about the love we have for all things watercolor? Watercolor hearts were no exception. We could hardly stop making these gems and the technique we used was almost magical to the kids.

We made these hearts a little differently than you would think. We did not use actual watercolors. Instead, we started with markers and added water next......for more details see my full tutorial over at Kiwi Crate!

Sunday, February 10, 2013

OK, I must admit I am a sucker for Valentine's Day. Actually, I am a sucker for any holiday, reason to celebrate, blow up a balloon, make a festive craft and fancy up our meals. Which is why when Valentine's Day comes around all of our food turns to hearts!

We used some Trader Joe's pizza dough and heart cookie cutters to make a heart filled lunch as we approach the big day of love!

If you know my Emma you know there is only one thing she loves more than crafting and that thing is cooking! I think she would actually prefer it to Disneyland! Seriously. I know, strange culinary loving child of mine. I will forward the info to you all when her fancy restaurant opens in 19 years. Hehe...to be in a mother's dream....

For this fun recipe, join me over at Kiwi Crate and cook up some hearts this week!

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Yes, I began my hunt again this year for a child pleasing sugar lacking Valentine! Emma and Grayson love honey sticks and they are always a welcomed treat for them to have. Honey sticks are a great natural alternative to candy on Valentine's Day. Emma and I brainstormed on how to make this an even extra special Valentine for her friends. A bee, of course!

Check out our full tutorial on our sweet "Bee Mine" Valentine's over at Kiwi Crate. Last night Emma suggested we also make a beehive card to go with these. Hmmm.....I am thinking card stock and yellow yarn......

Monday, February 4, 2013

We got our hands dirty creating newspaper mush to sculpt into hearts. It was messy and fun!

Emma loved to see how her paper turned into a new texture almost like clay that she could sculpt and mold into shapes. It was a lot of fun and the end result was beautiful. This would be a pretty cool and unique Valentine for friends at school. To see how to make your own paper mush check out our full tutorial at The Studio!

Sunday, February 3, 2013

We use kool-aid packets to make our play dough all the time. It smells yummy and gives our dough some great color. I also love that my children only know of it as a play dough ingredient and nothing more! Haha!

When I stumbled upon a new colorful flavored packet I had to give it a shot! Have you seen these? They are Frosting Creations by Duncan Hines, apparently used to flavor frosting, but for us a new play dough ingredient! I haven't seen them anywhere but Target so far and they are pretty inexpensive.

So we gave it a try with our usual dough recipe.
Add 2 cups flour, 1/2 cup of salt (table salt, but not ionized,) 2 tbs cream of tartar, 3 tbs oil and one packet of Frosting Creations. This one is the cotton candy flavor.

Next, add 1 cup hot water (like boiling temp) and mix it all together. The dough will be pretty sticky, but that's how you want it to be. This is a soft dough.

Dump it onto a working surface and sprinkle with a little more flour while kneading like pizza dough. Don't add too much flour or you will get a not so soft play dough.

This is what you want. It may seem too sticky, but it hardens up a bit as it cools.

The kids absolutely loved their new yummy smelling play dough and I definitely like these smells over the kool-aid ones. There is a caramel that I can't wait to try!
Let me know which one you try!

Saturday, February 2, 2013

To celebrate this day we will make some cute groundhogs, of course! Best part about this craft is that it starts with a nature walk as we went out to hunt for the perfect pine cones and rocks to become our cute little critters.

We covered each in glue and then wild rice. This was a bit tricky because the rice also wanted to stick to little hands. Maybe giving it a shake in a bag full of rice would be better next time. Since Grayson is a bit paranoid about things sticking to his hands and asked me every second of this project to remove each grain of rice from his little fingers.

We added some eyes and our groundhog was born! Is he the cutest, or what? I must admit I have a little soft spot for these darling little ground diggers! OK, I have a soft spot for most little critters...with fur that is.